Review Blog

Nov 30 2016

When the music's over by Peter Robinson

Hodder and Stoughton, 2016. ISBN 9781444786729
(Age: senior secondary to adult) Highly recommended. Crime fiction,
Cold case, DCI Banks, Rape, Celebrity crime, Racism, Prostitution.
When DCI Banks is promoted to Detective Superintendent, his first
case is likely to be his last at this posting because of the high
profile of the accused. He is to investigate an accusation of rape
against an under age girl which happened in Blackpool in 1967 by a
television and stage show celebrity now long retired. Having to
interview this man, now in his mid eighties, as well as the accuser,
takes all Banks' patience and stamina. The woman has not called this
out lightly, but the recent exposure of such people as Rolf Harris
and Jimmy Saville has brought it all back. And the police have
several other women come forward with similar stories. During this
investigation, Banks comes across the suspicious death of Caxton's
road manager in the same year, and this creates another level of
investigation which Banks finds was under-investigated, the paper
trail now no longer able to be found.
Meanwhile Annie Cabot is called to investigate the death of a young
girl, seemingly thrown from the back of a van, naked, in an out of
the way minor road. The investigation into her background reveals
connections with a group of Muslim men and so the cry of racism
stirs up some of the populace of Eastvale. But her short life is
exposed as one of a number of girls, groomed by these men to perform
sexual acts for them and their friends, part of a network across the
north of England, paralleling the sex abuse cases brought to court
in Rochdale, Bristol and others in England in the past several
years.
Both stories are disturbing, showing the level of sexual
exploitation that occurs within our community against vulnerable
women. And in some cases how personal influence keeps the stories
from being brought into the public eye. The women are all under age,
and those groomed for sexual exploitation from dysfunctional and
lower socio-economic communities where grooming can be done easily
at a local take away where young people gather. Both stories dove
tail each other, reflecting some of the nastiest aspects of
communities that I have read. Banks and Cabot and the usual
entourage keep unearthing evidence and piecing things together to
the satisfaction of all readers. And their investigations led me to
research the cases alluded to in the book, although with a great
deal of trepidation.
Fran Knight